Colas and US partners launch autonomous road safety vehicle

What the developers claim is the world’s first “Autonomous Impact Protection Vehicle” (AIPV) has been used live onsite in the US state of Colorado. The introduction of autonomous technology to an impact protection vehicle removes the driver from a potentially dangerous situation should the impact be sufficient to cause injuries or death. The vehicle is a joint US-UK project. It was developed in the US by Micro Systems Incorporated – a division of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions – and Royal Truck and
November 7, 2017 Read time: 2 mins
The business end of the driverless vehicle
What the developers claim is the world’s first “Autonomous Impact Protection Vehicle” (AIPV) has been used live onsite in the US state of Colorado

The introduction of autonomous technology to an impact protection vehicle removes the driver from a potentially dangerous situation should the impact be sufficient to cause injuries or death. The vehicle is a joint US-UK project. It was developed in the US by Micro Systems Incorporated – a division of Kratos Defense & Security Solutions – and 2669 Royal Truck and Equipment in conjunction with the 5406 Colorado Department of Transportation. The autonomous vehicle uses drone technology developed for the US military.

The group approached 184 Colas in the UK to carry out testing of the vehicle on closed roads. Operating data obtained by Colas was added to that of Colorado DoT and in August the first live road demonstration took place in Fort Collins. The vehicle followed a line painting truck.

 The autonomous vehicle is fitted with Micro System’s electro-mechanical Multi-Platform Appliqué Kit (M-Pak), a fully integrated sensor suite. It includes a roof-mounted navigation module, a quick-install steering actuator, actuators for acceleration and braking, transmission controller and an active safety system. M-PAK is a scalable system so it can be used as a stand-alone vehicle mobility kit, or sensors can be added to offer various levels of autonomy.

The lead vehicle – in this case a line-painting truck - with its driver has a roof-mounted NAV that contains a GPS receiver, system computer, digital compass and a transceiver. It transmits GPS position data called eCrumbs back to the follower vehicle, which then uses the data to track along the exact path and speed of the lead vehicle at each point along the route. The NAV Module can be easily unstrapped and removed from one vehicle and installed on another if a different lead vehicle is required.

Royal Truck and Equipment, founded in 1982, is a large manufacturer of truck-mounted attenuators and other safety vehicles based in Coopersburg, Pennsylvania.

Micro Systems, wholly owned by Kratos, is based in Fort Walton Beach, Florida. MSI develops unmanned vehicle technology, command-and-control systems and other vehicle management systems for all types of military use.

Road Markings, Barriers & Workzone Protection

For more information on companies in this article

Related Content

  • Volvo CE is looking to the future for construction machines
    September 12, 2018
    Volvo CE is taking bold steps in developing technologies for the future of construction machines – Mike Woof writes Volvo CE is making serious innovations in construction machine technology, developing equipment that is smarter, safer, cleaner and more fuel-efficient. This innovation comes from a position of strength and from a financial perspective, Volvo CE is performing well. CEO Melker Jernberg said, “When it comes to performance we need to be good economically. We saw growth for 2018 in all region
    Read More
  • Yeti more autonomous snow-clearing by Semcon
    January 9, 2019
    Semcon, a Swedish applied automation company, said it has started an on-site project to clear snow from runway landing lights using autonomous vehicles. Most often the time-consuming job of clearing snow around landing lights has to be done manually because of the intricate maneouvres needed to avoid damaging the lighting systems. The trial project, which started this month, will be demonstrated in about a year’s time at Örnsköldsvik Airport, around 525km north of the Swedish capital Stockholm, accord
    Read More
  • Speed limiters will limit fatalities, says the TRL
    July 29, 2019
    The soon-to-be mandatory speed limiters on vehicles in the European Union will make all safety other features more efficient, according the UK-based Transport Research Laboratory. In March the European Parliament passed a law that safety features such as intelligent speed assistance and advanced emergency-braking system must be installed in new vehicles from May 2022. They form part of the EU’s new suite of safety measures. TRL, which provided input for the European Commission regarding the formulatio
    Read More
  • Colas’s Yellow Project warns highway teams of collision risk
    November 7, 2017
    Colas’s Yellow Project has been developed with Aximum Electronic Products - a Colas Group Company - and software experts Foxstream. The system uses thermal imaging and video analytics to detect and classify approaching vehicles into “threat categories”. It identifies those that pose the greatest collision risk with a highway works vehicle or nearby workers. The thermal camera is mounted at height on the rear of a works or emergency vehicle and performs in both dark conditions and full sunlight. It does not
    Read More

Highlighted Content